My brother just hit the "doughnut hole" which means he must pay for all of his many expensive medications out of pocket. I am wondering about the wisdom of advising him to try filling his prescriptions from a Canadian company.
Are there any seniors out there who have tried this route?

Don't know if you have a Sam's club in your area. Their prices are less expensive. My DH's meds through his insurance company is 10 bucks a month (copay) at Sam's 3 months of the very same medicine, same manufacture is 8 bucks. UMMMMM 30 bucks or 8 bucks??

Also, have brother talk doc about different meds. The meds that have been on the market longer are cheaper and a lot of times do the same job as the newer ones. The docs just like to use the newer ones because they are the ones they are hearing about the most. They have no idea how much they actually cost, so you need to talk with the pharmacist, they are the ones that know medicine.

There is a thing called Price Breakers that Seniors can apply for. As long as he doesn't own a lot of property he should be able to get assistance through that. There's also several companies that provide price relief. He should also talk to his doctor about going to generic forms of his meds which are a lot cheaper especially at Walgreens, Sams, and Walmart.

In IL, "Price breakers" is not dependent upon assets just income. In our area it is 30K, give or take, for two people. I know I just applied for the program on 8/7 for my parents. In IL, Medicaid is asset dependent. Your state should have something like that. You can go online to find it or we have a Senior Services center for our county. There is also SHIP (Senior Health insurance Program) which can guide you through the process. The application process is 3-4 weeks long in IL. I dont know about your state.

You can ask your MD's office for resources and generic options but it is not their job to find a way for you to pay for your meds. "Putting it on his shoulders" is not realistic, it's not his life, his money, or his responsibility.

This time of year many hit this point, makes it tough till a person gets out of that hole, I agree not Dr. worries about you med $$ worries, except if he can't figure out why BP up and your not following RX regimen, Have to be honest with Dr. so they can help. Many get samples from manufaturers, or know of something similar, or generic. Make sure to price check different places prices can swing a lot, *** but whatever you do*** Make sure all sources know what you are taking so no chance of drug interaction. Make sure they know what over the counter stuff you may be taking it too can cause side efffects. :)